


Poisonous Friends

by madammina



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: For the Ties that Bind Zine, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 18:10:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17492738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madammina/pseuds/madammina
Summary: When Destiny Islands was destroyed, Riku found himself cast adrift until Maleficent found him.  She cast herself as his friend.  She was not.





	Poisonous Friends

**Author's Note:**

> For the Ties that Bind zine! It is focused on friendship, and I wanted to focus on the friendship (or lack there of) with Riku and Maleficent. And how it contrasted with Sora, Kairi, and himself.

Riku lay unmoving with his eyes closed on the cold stone basin of safety. Water roared around him and spray hit him on every side. Half of his brain commanded that he stand up, while the other pointed out that he was in a lot of pain and just threw himself through a dark portal. Just rest for the moment.

As his brain argued, Riku heard stately footsteps from somewhere above him, and they moving downward, closer. He must be at the bottom of something.

“What have we here?” The voice was female and elegant. Riku opened his eyes and realized he was looking at the bottom of a black cloak. Something cawed above him. He managed to work his way to sitting position and looked up. Above him was the green and angular face of a woman wearing a robe with some sort of pointed headdress. She carried a staff, and a bird he hadn’t seen before rested on her shoulder. “Who are you?”

“You tell me first, and where we are,” Riku demanded as he managed to stand up. He only made it to her chest, and had to look up to look her in the eye. 

“Why, I’m Maleficent. Ruler of this world of Hollow Bastion,” she said. “And you?”

“Riku, Destiny Islands,” Riku muttered, then blinked. “Wait, world? Am I in another world?” 

“Yes, yes you are,” Maleficent said with a smile. It wasn’t like Sora or Kairi’s smile. Her bird cawed. “Oh, this is my pet raven, Diablo. Come, come, my boy. You have managed to traverse worlds by cutting through the darkness, a skill granted to few. You must be tired and hungry.”

She tapped her staff, and they were surrounded by green fire. When it dissipated, they were in front of a large castle, and from there Riku looked down into the waterfall… with… rising… water…

What?

“Riku.” Maleficent lay a hand on his shoulders. “Please come inside. There are some people you should meet.”

~  
Maleficent continued to open doors for Riku until they arrived in a large circular room. There was a rose pattern on the floor and a giant table. Around it stood several other people. Riku picked up on the woman who looked like an Island myth right away, and another looked like a pirate.

“So, what scares you, boy?” A voice said. This one was a vaguely humanoid burlap sack. It sauntered towards Maleficent and leaned over to look at Riku. “Who is he?”

“Riku, of Destiny Islands,” Maleficent said. That got one person’s attention: a tall man, who may have also carried a bird on his shoulder. 

“The world that was just destroyed?” he said.

“I destroyed it,” Riku admitted. That got everyone’s attention. Including Maleficent’s. He looked from the Burlap Sack and back to Maleficent. “I opened the Door, and Darkness came out. I’m not scared of it!”

“No, you are clearly not,” the Burlap Sack said in a slightly disappointed tone. Then it tilted its head. “No, you are scared that you killed your friends.”

“AM NOT!” Riku yelled. Another one of the people there, who gave off a soft blue light from his head, came over and grabbed Maleficent by her elbow.

“Mal, sweetie, can we talk?” he said. “What makes you think we need this kid? Do you think he has a Key?”

They know about the Key? Sora doesn’t know about the Key. He never told Sora, he promised that. The magic would wear off if he said anything. If they knew, would it still have the magic?

That was stupid. That was something Sora would say. And Kairi would agree with him.

What would they say about all of this? Maleficent had saved him, after all. But the Burlap Sack wanted fear. Why? What is Sora scared of? Or were Sora and Kairi…?

No, they couldn’t be. Right?

“You know about the Keys from other worlds?” Riku asked as he turned around. Both Maleficent and the other guy stopped and turned in unison.

“You do?” Maleficent asked, a small grin on her face.

“Yes. Someone had me hold it while they recited a rhyme about…. protecting others.” Did he do that?

“Brown-haired guy, yay high, very earthy?” the other guy said. “Or was it a blue-haired girl?”

“Brown-haired,” Riku replied.

“Hades, Lord of the Dead, pleasure to meet you.” Hades came over and held out his hand. Riku tentatively shook it. “Oh, jeez, kid. You are going to need to be stronger than that if you want to run with the big boys.”

“Boys, Hades? Are you forgetting the witches?” The octopus monster came out of the shadows. “I am Ursula.” 

“We have stories about you on my island,” Riku said. “They say you drown sailors and eat souls.”

“Oh, maybe in my younger days,” she chuckled, but somehow looked happy about it.

“Oogie Boogie,” said the Burlap Sack. Riku thought he saw a bug crawl into its mouth.

“Jafar,” the last figure, the one with the parrot, said. 

“Then what is the pirate one called, Captain Hook?” Riku tried to bluff. A small shuffle made it clear that it was what he was called.

Sora would have called him that. 

What had happened to him? And Kairi?

“So, you know about the Key?” Maleficent said as she returned. “And you have held one? Can you summon it?”

“Summon it? No,” Riku replied. Everyone else was shifting around, expecting something.

“Maybe he’s not the one we need,” Jafar replied.

“I don’t know what you need, but I can do it,” Riku tried to bluff again.

“Nah, kid, you see, we need someone with a special touch.” Hades came back over, putting his hand over Riku’s shoulder. Something about it made Riku’s skin crawl and he shrugged off the arm. 

“I opened the door!” he argued. “I drowned my world in… in Darkness to see other worlds!” 

“But what ELSE can you do?” Hook said. “All members must pull their weight, after all. I won’t have a stowaway in—”

“In MY castle, Hook,” Maleficent snapped. “And right now, the poor dear is exhausted. He can give a proper account AFTER he sleeps.”

“Ooh, yes, nightmares.” Oogie rubbed his hands together. A quick glance from Maleficent made him back down. 

“Come, Riku.” She swept down a hall. 

“Do you really own this castle?” Riku asked. “Are you ruler of this whole world?”

“Not necessarily,” Maleficent replied. “I… inherited… this castle after the last owner left. It is now mine to do with as I please. And right now, I am researching the Keyblade and its connection to seven pure Princesses of Heart. The rumor holds one was on your island. Maybe she escaped.”

“Really?” Riku stopped in the middle of a hallway. “Maybe it was my friend, Kairi! I don’t know where she went. Can you look for her, or my friend, Sora?”

“How about a deal, Riku?” Maleficent said as she opened a door. “I have magic powers and a table from a previous owner that lets me find whomever I search for. You help me find the remaining Princesses or summon that Key, and I shall help you find where your friends are.”

“Deal.” Riku stuck out his hand, and she took it. She shook it, looking unfamiliar with the gesture. 

“Hades does that more than myself,” she admitted. “Here is your room. If need be, I shall enforce… pleasant dreams.” 

~

The room was small, consisting of not much more than a bed, a desk, and a bookshelf. Riku wandered over and ran his hands over the spines. Some books were in languages he didn’t understand. Others were clearly research on Keyblades and the Princesses. There was another book on Keyholes.

With a sigh, he kicked off his shoes, grabbed the least complicated book, and curled up in bed.

He could almost imagine Sora and Kairi running around the room and talking to him about what just happened. 

“I’ll find you,” he whispered. “I promise.”


End file.
